Wall rack for mechanics&#39; tools



Jul 1, 1958 w. H. ODLUM ETAL 2,841,289

WALL RACK FOR MECHANICS TOOLS Filed Sept. 14, 1954 lLL/AM H ODLUM JOHNR. GRAC/OUS ATTORNEY 2,841,289 Patented July 1, 1958 WALL RACK FER liECHANICS TOOLS Application September 14, 1954, Serial No. 455,819

7 Claims. (Cl. 211-87) This invention relates to a wall rack formechanics tools such as socket wrench sets or the like.

A popular form of socket wrench is a hollow metal cylinder having anopening at one end formed to fit snugly over the corners of a nut orbolt head, and an opening at the opposite end into which may be insertedthe end of a lever by which the cylinder may be turned to tighten Orloosen, as the case may be, the nut or bolt. To cover the sizes of nutsor bolts commonly encountered by a mechanic, some fifteen differentcylinders are required, which poses a storage problem, not only for thecylinders, but for the levers as Well.

The levers may take two forms, the first being generally a rod ofhexagonal cross section having one end bent at right angles to the axisof the rod and adapted to engage the cylinder, and the second having aratchet mechanism for driving the cylinder, there being a short adaptorwhich is inserted between the cylinder and the ratchet mechanism.

The holders usually supplied for socket wrench sets are comprised of aportable trough in which the cylinders are arranged in progressivelyincreasing size. The operating lever is secured over the cylinders in amanner to retain them in the trough. Such holders make no pro- Visionfor storing the ratchet lever and its adaptor. it is also customary tosplit the cylinders into two groups, with a separate holder andoperating lever for each group. This increases the possibility ofmisplacing parts of each set and the difliculty of keeping track of thesets. The alternative is to use a metal chest or box which, of course,is more expensive and bulky.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a holder for asocket wrench set which is adapted to be affixed to a Wall or the liketo provide a convenient and stationary storage facility for the set.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a holder'for asocket wrench set of the loose cylinder type which is arranged to storethe cylinders in a fixed horizontal position to prevent inadvertentspilling of the cylinders not currently being used.

A specific object of this invention is the provision of a holder for asocket wrench set of the loose cylinder type which is adapted to hold aratchet type operating lever for the cylinders as well as the usual bartype lever.

Among the general objects of this invention is. the provision of aholder for a socket wrench set that is made for the most part as asingle piece stamping, which holds the parts of the set accessibly,which holds a ratchet lever in resilient clamping engagement, and whichis economical to make and durable in use.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description when taken together with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational View of a holder made in accordance withthis invention and illustrating how the socket wrench set is disposedand held therein;

Fig. 2 is a plan View in section of the holder of Fig. l, the sectionbeing taken along line 22 thereof; and

Fig. 3 is an elevational view in perspective of the holder alone.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed description of theinvention, the holder is comprised of a substantially rectangular metalplate Ill the bottom region of which is formed into a shallow trough orretainer 11 to receive a plurality of individual cylindrical sockets 12arranged in the trough in accordance with progressively increasing sizesof their diameters. Trough 11 is formed by bending forwardly, andsubstantially at right angles with the plane of plate 10, bottom andside flanges 13, 14 and 15, respectively, the ends l6, l7, 18,respectively, of the flanges being bent transversely to form the outersides of the trough. The bottom of the trough is formed by flange 13 andis made of trapezoidal configuration, i. e., wider at the right hand end(Fig. 2) than at the left hand end thereof, to conform to theprogressively larger diameters of the sockets 12 which it is to retain.

The bar type lever for operating the sockets is shown at 19 and is ofthe usual hexagonal cross section. It has one end 20 bent at rightangles to the axis of the bar for insertion into the driving end of thesockets. Bar 19 is longer than trough l1 and extends through hexagonalopenings 21 and 22 (Fig. 3) beyond the ends of the trough. Ball typespring latches 23 on the left end, and in end 20 on the right, hold bar19 in place in side flanges 15 and 14. Sockets 12 are retained in trough11 by bar 19.

A similar trough or retainer 24, but of a smaller size, is provided atthe top central region of plate 16. Said smaller trough is formed as asingle stamping having a similarly trapezoidal bottom 25, upwardlyextending sides 26 and 27, transversely extending retaining flanges 28,29, 30 and a pair of outwardly disposed attaching flanges 31 and 32 bywhich the stamping is secured to plate It). Trough 24 is used to holdthe smaller sizes of sockets 33 which are retained in the trough in asimilar fashion by a thinner hexagonal bar 34. The largest of thesockets 33 is, of course, smaller than the smallest socket 12 so thatthe Widest part of trapezoidal bottom 25 is no larger than the smallestpart of the trapezoidal bottom 13a of trough 11.

For faster operation in turning the sockets it may be desirable toprovide a ratchet type lever which operates in conjunction with anadaptor taking the place of the operative end 20 of the bar 19 in theopenings normally provided for said end 2%. The rack of this inventionis provided with means for resiliently retaining the ratchet lever andthe adaptor in a convenient manner.

The lever is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and is comprised of a handle 35which may be either solid, or made of a pair of complementary stampingssecured together, and a head 36 shown at the right hand end of lever 35in Figs. 1 and 2. Within head 36 is a rotatable barrel 37 having asubstantially hexagonal opening 33 centrally disposed therein. A ratchetmechanism (not shown) is interposed between head 36 and socket 37 forproviding a oneway drive between the head and socket. The direction ofdrive may be reversed merely by reversing the side of socket 37 adjacentthe nut or bolt to be turned.

The adaptor is comprised of a short length 39 of hexagonal bar stock ofsubstantially identical cross section to the end 2i? of the bar 19. Oneend 46 of the adaptor is made substantially flat and is provided withthe usual spring detent 41 for retaining the adaptor in a socket. Theother end of the adaptor is ground to a taper to provide a screw driver42 which may be used to turn machine screws or the like.

The adaptor is supported on rack 10 by a tab 43 which is struck inwardlyfromthe central lefthand region of the rack. A similar tab 44 disposedabove the adaptor confines the latter to the space between the two tabs.

A finger 45 extending from the left hand edge of rack (Fig. .3) is bentat right'angles to the general plane of rack 10 and has its end 46 bentbackward upon, and

- spaced from, the general surface of the racknf Said finger 45 and itsreversely bent end 46 serve to confine adaptor 39 on twosidesu g r 1Ratchet lever 35 is supported on rack 10 between trough 24 and bar 19:by spaced tabs 47, 48 having upwardly bent ends 49 and 50,respectively, forming hooks on which lever 35 rests. A similar tab 51,havinga downwardly bent end 52, serves to retain lever 35 on itssupporting tabs 47, 48. a H a Lever 35 is resiliently held againstthebent over ends 49, .50 and 52 by an angularly disposed finger 53struck inwardly from the front surface of rack 10 and adapted to exert aresilient force upon the. back of lever. 35 in the direction of the ends49, 50 and .52. .It is contemplated, ,1

however, thatfinger 53 will be relatively stiffgand will the like, saidflange extending from the bottom edge and holder comprising upstandingplate having flanges extending forwardly and substantially normally tothe plane,

of the plate from its bottom edge and from the side edges adjacent thebottom edge to form the bottom'and sides of a first retainer for aplurality of wrench sockets, a strip of sheet metal disposed above thesaid first retainer and having a horizontalsection and flanges overlyingand secured tothe plate, said strip forming with the plate the bottom ofa second retainer for a plurality of wrench sockets disposed above thefirst-mentioned retainer, atab struck outwardly and downwardly from theplate, and

laterally spaced tabs struck outwardly and upwardly from the plate atregions below and Queen either side of the first-mentioned tab, all ofsaid tabs being constructed to receive and hold between them the handleof a tool or said horizontal section ofthe strip'having upstanding Vedges constituting retaining walls for Wrench sockets supbe initially soformedand'disposed relative to ends-49; 50

and 52 that lever 35 may he slid between said ends and finger 53. At theright-hand end of lever 35, however,

is formed a spring finger. 54 having it free end bent at right angles tothe plane of rack 10 and then-parallel thereto as at .55 and 56respectively. The right angle portion 55 forms a retaining wall for theright-handend (Fig. 1) of lever 35. Said retaining wall 55 is sodisposed relativeto the length of lever 35 that the lever will Inormally be held in close proximity to adaptor 39 and will effectivelyretain adaptor 39 within, the confines of finger 45 and its reverselybent end 46.

It may be noted that slots 57 and 58, with smoothly rounded ends 59 and60, respectively, are cut into rack 10 to provide ample clearance formovement of finger 54 transversely of the plane of rack 10 withoutcreating fatigue cracks at the juncture between: finger 54' and rack 10.r

It is contemplated that lever 35 will be inserted behind r.

the ends 49, 50 and 52 byresiliently forcing the free end 56 of finger54 backward, that is, ,transverselyof the plane of rack 10, until theleft hand end of lever 35, as viewed in Fig. 1, can be pushed tosubstantiallyithe position shown in that figure, whereupon theresilience of finger54 will cause it to snap forward, thereby bringingwall 55 alongside the right hand end of lever 35 and retaining saidlever in place on the rack as well as confining adaptor 39 to itsparticular location on thejrack.

When it is desired to remove lever 35 from the rack, pressure is exertedupon end56 transversely of the planeof rack 10 until lever 35 clears theforward edge of wall 55,

whereupon said lever may be moved to the right as viewed in Fig. 1 untilit'issubstantially free of the rack. When lever 35 is removed, adaptor39, of course, may also be removed, and since the two are invariablyused together, there is no need to provide a holding means for theadaptor separate from lever 35.

It may be observed that'the construction of the rack is such that all ofthe parts thereof are securelyheld in place, no matter what the positionof the rack. Thus the rack may be placed horizontally in a tool kitwithout danger of the various sockets, operating bars, lever and adaptorworking loose and becoming lost. However, it may be desirable to hangthe rack ona wall near'the operators bench in which event keyhole slots61, 62 are provided in the upper corners of the rack by which'the rackmay be removably secured to hooks, screws, nails or the like fastened toa wall. V

'It is understood that the foregoing description is merely illustrativeof-the preferred embodiment of this invention and that the scope of theinvention therefore is not to be limited thereto but to be determined bythe appended claims.

' We claim:

, 1. A holder for a plurality of socket wrenches, said ported on saidbottom edge flange and horizontal section,

and said bottom edge flange and horizontalsectionbeing of trapezoidalconfiguration, the greatest width of the horizontal section beingsubstantially equal to the smallest widthof the bottom edge flange toprovide in effect a split retainer for a plurality of wrenches ofprogressively varying sizes. a L

2. A holder as described in claim 1, saidstrip being U-shaped and havingsides extending upwardly from the ends of the horizontal section, saidflanges on the strip overlying and secured to the plate being formed-onthe upwardly extending sides of the strip; and the bottom section ofthe-strip being vertically spaced from the flanges extending forwardlyfrom the side edges of the plate.

3. A holder as described in claim 1, said tabslbeing disposed below thestrip and above the flanges extending forwardly from the side edges-ofthe plate such that the said tool handle is disposed between theretainersfor the wrenches, said plate extending laterally of each side.of

thestrip and having openings in such lateral extensions to receive awall-mounted support or the like, 4. A holder as described in claim 1,said plate having additionally latching means formed thereon andcooperating with the wrench handle for holding said handle againstlateral movement in onedirection with respect to the plate. r

5. A holder as described in claim 1, and said plate having in addition alateral'tab and top and bottom tabs formed-in one side thereof toreceive 'and support a wrench adaptor, said tool handle whenmounted inits respective tabs serving to confine the adaptor between 7 its saidlateral, top and bottom tabs. V a 6. A holder as described in claim 1,said plate having friction means for holding said toolhandle against portions of said tabs. 7 g 7 7. A holder as' described in claim 1, saidstrip'being secured to theforward side of the'plate such'thatfthe plateforms a common rear wall for both retainers.

References Cited in the file of this patent 1 UNITED STATES PATENTSMcNaught Dec. 15, .1936 V

